The Ten

The Ten ***1/2

Directed by David Wain
Written by Ken Marino and David Wain

Starring:
Jessica Alba as Liz
Adam Brody as Stephen Montgomery
Bobby Cannavale as Marty McBride
Paul Rudd as Jeff
Famke Janssen as Gretchen Reigert
Gretchen Mol as Gloria Jennings
Rob Corddry as Duane Rosenblum
Kerri Kenney as Bernice
Winona Ryder as Kelly
A.D. Miles as Oliver
Oliver Platt as Arnold (Marc Jacobson)
Ken Marino as Dr. Richie
Justin Theroux as Jesus H. Christ

93 Minutes(Rated R for pervasive strong crude sexual content including dialogue and nudity, and for language and some drug material. )
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recently I saw and reviewed a special midnight screening of "Wet Hot American Summer," a cult film that I found to be funny and entertaining, and gave me a wistful thought of my past at summer camp, but ultimately had more misses than hits when it came to jokes. Seeing "The Ten", with the same director, co-writer, and most of the same cast, I found myself at a loss for how funny it was. The theatre was pretty empty-maybe about ten people tops in the middle of the afternoon-but the select few got the jokes, saw the many many many sly touches, and found humor in some of the most random and outlandish situations that I've ever seen on film. How a film like "Knocked Up" could get a wide release and not "The Ten" is a bit beyond me, because it's clear which one I had more fun watching.

"The Ten" takes the famous Ten Commandments and gives us a short story-maybe about ten minutes long each-loosely pertaining to each one. Some of them are so loose that you can't even find the connection, especially the first one (Do Not Worship Other Gods), which is about a skydiver that forgets his chute and ends up getting stuck in the ground. If he moves, he will die, destroying his relationship with Kelly, who pops up in another story (Thou Shall Not Steal) where her honeymoon to another man is given a rude and disturbing obstacle. In another story, Dr. Richie ends up keeping a pair of scissors inside a woman he gave surgery too, and is arrested even though he did it "as a goof." In another two black children who have white parents learn that their real father is Arnold Schwarzenegger, and then endure Oliver Platt's character who is a Arnold impersonator for a living. When it comes to not wanting your neighbors possessions, two neighbors end up having a fight by buying as many cat scan machines as the other has. And then in perhaps my favorite, Gretchen Mol plays a quiet librarian going to Mexico for the summer, and who begins an affair with a man who may or may not be Jesus H. Christ. And all the stories are introduced by Paul Rudd-whose narrator character also appears in the ninth story-who is having problems of his own as he contemplates leaving his wife for a younger woman, played by Jessica Alba.

There are several more stories, five to be exact, and they all bring a certain twist to the commandments. I'm surprised this film did not have more controversy surrounding it, as in the film, Jesus Christ has sex with a woman, and right before doing it again he says that she is about to have a second coming. And yet "The Da Vinci Code" gets a lot of crap. But the whole film is just so funny, even though the 8th story-which is an animated version of not bearing false witness to your neighbors-falls flat, and a musical number finale just left a weird sour taste in my mouth. But it's certainly the best pure comedy of the year, and the perfect film for fans of random odd humor. The truth is, you never really know what kind of gag is going to come out next, and I couldn't even predict any of the punch lines. That's all that really can be said, and to say anymore would probably ruin gags-which is why I did not reveal any of the other story plot lines. Suffice to say that "The Ten" is a lot of fun and has the most laughs of the summer, and perhaps even the year.

Now Playing at:

Landmark Sunshine Cinemas